BBC Children’s
BBC Children’s • The BBC has produced and broadcast television programmes for children since the 1930s. The first children-specific strand on BBC television was For the Children, first broadcast on Saturday 24 April 1937; it was only ten minutes long. It lasted for two years before being taken off air when the service closed due to the Second World War in September 1939.
Post-War • Following the war, For the Children recommenced on Sunday 7 July 1946, with a twenty-minute slot every Sunday afternoon and the addition of programmes for pre-school children under the banner For The Very Young.
• Children's TV as a specialist area really started in 1950 when the first dedicated staff were recruited and when in 1951 Freda Lingstrom was appointed as head of department. Early programmes included Whirlygig and All your Own.
• In 1952, the "For the Children" / "For the Very Young" branding was dropped. • Younger children's programming was broadcast under the Watch with Mother banner. The 1964 launch of BBC Two allowed additional room for children's programming with an edition of Play School technically being the first official programme. On 1 October 1980, Watch with Mother was replaced by See-Saw, which was moved to BBC2 in June 1987, before ending in 1990.
CBBC • Audience: Children under 6 years
Cbeebies • Audience: Children 6-12 years • 7am – 9pm • Officially Launched 1985, previously Children's Television (1955–1969) / Pre-Children's BBC (1970–1979)
• CBBC is operated by the BBC Children's division, part of BBC North. The division relocated to MediaCityUK in Salford Quays in May 2011, after being based in the East Tower of TV Centre in London since 1964.
• The BBC Children's division also operates CBeebies. Overall strategic responsibility for all of the BBC's services for children rests with the Director of Children's, Joe Godwin (since late 2009), with commissioning decisions for the two channels being made by a Controller of each channel; Cheryl Taylor (since 2012) is Controller of CBBC, and Kay Benbow (since 2010) is Controller of CBeebies.